AUSTRALIA’S Oyster Coast is booming. After its first few months the South Coast marketing initiative is shaping up to be a winner. Local oyster farming identity Jim Wild said it had created an oyster trail on the South Coast that encouraged people to seek out the farmers in the coastal villages from Shoalhaven down to Merimbula. “This is all about people finding their way to the oyster farm and buying direct from the farmer,” Mr Wild said. “I’ve heard reports from Merimbula and Batemans Bay that people are following the oyster trail. “And we’re hearing now from the north coast that they’re a bit jealous because they didn’t think of it first. “It’s something the industry has needed for a long time, and it doesn’t highlight just one oyster farming area, it highlights them all. It’s fantastic,” he said. Mr Wild said the Oyster Coast was introducing consumers to a way of purchasing oysters direct at farm-gate prices rather than from a restaurant or co-op. He said it was also connecting the customers with the farmers. “People want to meet the farmer in his natural environment,” Mr Wild said. “They want to know where their oysters originally came from when they are buying them in the restaurant or co-op,” he said. “I couldn’t be happier or more proud of all the famers on the South Coast who have really embraced this. “And it’s going to get bigger. I think it will be world renowned. “A lot of us are doing international bus tours now, this week we’ve done seven bus groups from overseas, they can’t get enough of our oysters.”